COLLEGE BASKETBALL; Sorrow and Anger at St. Bonaventure

Steady, heavy snow covered St. Bonaventure University here today in a white blanket, but most of the people on this campus and in this town felt black-and-blue and buried. This Catholic university of 2,200 students founded in 1858 is fighting the label of cheaters after its men's basketball program crumbled into chaos, shaking the foundation and the pride of a university and a community.

On Monday, St. Bonaventure forfeited its six Atlantic 10 victories and was barred from the conference tournament because Jamil Terrell, a junior-college center who signed with the university in April, was ruled ineligible. He had played in 25 games and started 18.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association had determined that Terrell should never have been allowed to be on the team because he did not meet transfer requirements.

After the forfeits and the denial of postseason action, the St. Bonaventure players decided they would not play their final two regular-season games, creating even more controversy. Before the forfeits, the team had won 13 games and lost 14.

St. Bonaventure is not a national basketball powerhouse, but its fans display a fervor that matches most big-time university programs. Now most are embarrassed or angry, alternately blaming the university's president, Robert J. Wickenheiser, the coach, Jan Van Breda Kolff, or the players.

''I don't even play college sports and I know you have to have certain academic requirements,'' said Craig Southard, 32, a factory worker who adores the Bonnies and lives near the university, which is close to the Pennsylvania border about 60 miles south of Buffalo. ''You just can't slide people onto your team. It may happen every day in college sports, but not here. Now the school has a bad name, and your name means everything around here. I wouldn't want to be in that administration's shoes.''

Some critics have howled that the players' scholarships should have been revoked when they chose not to play and the university should have fielded walk-ons to finish the season.

''The thing I feel worse about is how the players are being vilified,'' said David P. Ferguson, the university's vice president of marketing and public relations. ''If you could have just been in that room when the players were informed. . . .

''Bad things happen to good people. Boom! They were told there would be no tournament. Boom! They were told of forfeited games. Boom! They were told they probably wouldn't even have the last game here to salute the seniors because it would be moved to another site. It may have been the biggest emotional experience of their lives. They may not have made the right decision, but they made the best decision they could make.

''Obviously, we let these kids down. It shouldn't work out this way. You can't look at the outcome and say the process worked. We care about these kids. We're hurting. We all have got to search our souls.''

The roots of this scandal are in the signing of Terrell.

A university official involved in the events who spoke on condition on anonymity said that Barbara Questa, St. Bonaventure's compliance officer, told Van Breda Kolff early last spring that Terrell was not eligible because his certificate in welding from Coastal Georgia Community College did not meet N.C.A.A. junior-college academic requirements.

Van Breda Kolff went around Questa and his athletic director, Gothard Lane, and requested help from the university president, Wickenheiser, the official said. Wickenheiser allowed Terrell's entry, overruling the compliance staff. All season long a cloud hovered over Terrell's eligibility. With the Atlantic 10 tournament approaching, Wickenheiser decided to act.

On Feb. 24, Wickenheiser asked the N.C.A.A. for clarification of Terrell's eligibility. On Feb. 26, in a home game against George Washington, Terrell sat out waiting for a ruling. The next day the university announced that the N.C.A.A. had ruled Terrell ineligible.

On Monday, Wickenheiser, in a conference call with the other Atlantic 10 presidents, offered a forfeiture of the team's conference victories; the other presidents demanded that the team also be barred from the conference's postseason tournament.

The players were told, meanwhile, that Dayton had security concerns about arriving on the campus for the season-ending game Saturday amid an unfolding controversy and that the game would probably be moved to Buffalo or Rochester. With regular-season games left against Massachusetts and Dayton, the players decided to end the season immediately.

Wickenheiser took blame for becoming involved in eligibility issues and apologized to irate alumni and fans. Van Breda Kolff was initially silent but issued a statement today saying, ''I welcome, look forward to and will cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation.''

Van Breda Kolff did not say what role he may have played in recruiting Terrell. He did say, ''I stand on my beliefs and my integrity.''

The players, led by guard Marques Green, a junior, are expected to speak out in a news conference next week when spring break ends.

As for the team's refusal to play the last two games, another university official who spoke on condition of anonymity said: ''When people say we should have just gone out and gotten some other students and played the games anyway, where would they have come from, since everyone was gone for spring break?''

This official said the university should have provided leadership for the players as they were decided what to do.

''There has been friction in this athletic department for a while between the president and the athletic director, the coach and the athletic director and even between the coach and the sports information director,'' the official said. ''There has not been continuity and communication in the athletic department at the top for a while.

''So, when this blew up, you got a disjointed response. I don't see how any of the top three involved -- the president, the athletic director or the coach -- can survive it.''

St. Bonaventure's board of regents is conducting an investigation, as is the N.C.A.A. For now, St. Bonaventure is left without men's basketball, previously a source of warmth here on brutally cold nights.

''This never should have happened, and when it did they should have played the final games,'' said Carl Frenz, 73, a dairy farmer from nearby Elkdale. ''Somebody up there should have known better than to try to pull a fast one. This is not New York and it ain't L.A. Here, everybody knows everybody. The biggest thing here is St. Bonaventure basketball. It's all now a big black eye.''